Inglenook Shunting Puzzles
Combinatorics
2019-04-04 v2 Discrete Mathematics
Abstract
An inglenook puzzle is a classic shunting (switching) puzzle often found on model railway layouts. A collection of wagons sits in a fan of sidings with a limited length headshunt (lead track). The aim of the puzzle is to rearrange the wagons into a desired order (often a randomly chosen order). This article answers the question: When can you be sure this can always be done? The problem of finding a solution in a minimum number of moves is also addressed.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1810.07970,
title = {Inglenook Shunting Puzzles},
author = {Simon R. Blackburn},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1810.07970},
year = {2019}
}
Comments
23 pages, 4 figures. Minor typos in previous version corrected